


the freedom earned from blood spilled

by firestormrunner



Series: Stormy's RWBY One-shots [2]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Character Study, Ficlet, Gen, Volume 6 (RWBY), just a tumblr cleanup of the Aftermath
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:09:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28387548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firestormrunner/pseuds/firestormrunner
Summary: When Blake thought of how their conclusion would go, this wasn't what she expected. She knew it would be a fight. She knew blood would spill. She knew only one of them would come out the other side, it was the only way it would end.Blake just never thought it would be her.
Series: Stormy's RWBY One-shots [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2204730
Kudos: 5





	the freedom earned from blood spilled

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr fic cleanup. A mini-fic character study for Blake after her and Yang's fight with Adam. Figured I might as well post it here too.

The ship was quiet, a content and stark contrast compared to the rest of the day. It was not unwelcomed though, the tired stillness in the air came with a subtly prideful and hard-earned sense of accomplishment. It gave her the chance to breathe, something she didn’t feel like she had been granted since they had stepped on that train to Argus at the least. Maybe not since the Fall of Beacon, as every attempt she made to _give_ herself that chance was soon interrupted by some disaster or another. It was a welcomed reprieve, and one that did _some_ to soothe the slew of thoughts running through her mind.

If she were honest, Blake knew she probably should have been reflecting on the day as a whole. A lot had happened in the span of the twelve or so hours since they set out on their plan to make their way to Atlas, but there was only one thought that possessed her mind. They were finally on their way to Atlas now, but not before every conceivable thing that could have gone wrong with their plan _did_. Not before _she_ —no, her _shadows_ —started a chain of events that kept worsening the situation with each new link added to it. Her shadows came back to wreck _everything_ for those around her. Those she loved. And she had to put an end to it, then and there, she was the only one who could.

 _He_ was dead. Adam was dead and Blake didn’t know how to feel about it. All she knew was that she couldn’t stop telling herself those words, that _fact_ , as if it was both her salvation and her demise.

Adam was dead and his blood stained her hands. She had always feared their end would amount to something like this. When she left Adam on that train, she had already calculated for the endless possibilities of when and how he would pursue her. It was never a matter of ‘if.’ She had backup plan upon backup plan prepared for when he or the White Fang or both came for her in Vale, and he somehow still managed to catch her off guard and destroy her, her life, and everyone around her in the worst possible moment. He was nothing if not relentless in his pursuit of his single-minded obsession. She had come to terms long ago that was all she ever was, an obsession.

Adam was dead and, if she were honest, this was not the end she expected they amounted to. It was not his blood she expected would spill when their story finally reached its conclusion. Blake felt something brush against her shoulder and looked to her left to see Yang had shifted as she messed around on her scroll. The brawler didn’t even seem to notice they were touching, or if she did, she didn’t make anything of it. Blake smiled, acknowledging to herself she needed to correct her prior thoughts. She was not the _only_ one who could, or _should,_ have to deal with Adam, because she was not the only one he had hurt. Because she was not responsible for what _he_ had done.

Adam was dead, but she still had her strength…the strength that came to her rescue and helped her in the end. Weiss sat to her right, finally getting some much-needed sleep on the long fight. She still had her defiance. Ruby flitted back up front to her uncle and Maria, she still had her purity. Blake looked across to Jaune and Nora and Ren, all sprawled against the opposite wall and dozing off as well. She still had her perseverance, her passion, and her pragmatism. Her eyes trailed to Oscar, the boy sitting and silently observing their friends the same way she was. She still had her honesty.

Adam was dead, and his blood stained her hands, but as she stared at them resting in her lap again, Blake knew she still had her resolve. She had people in her life she wanted to protect, she had goals in her life she wanted to achieve. There was a person she wanted to become herself, and she was no longer going to let him stand in the way of her path towards realizing who that person was.

Adam was dead, and so was she, a part of her at least. It hurt, but it was a part of her she had needed to let go of for a long time. It was a part of her that had been restricting the rest of her from moving forward. It was a part of her that, now that it was gone, left space for growth she knew she was possible of achieving. It left space for people she knew she deserved and people she knew deserved her.

Adam was dead, and it was not a victory, but it cut the last tether she held in her heart to a past she had so desperately wanted to escape from. It lifted a weight that kept her from soaring towards the heights she wished to see. She would no longer run from her past, but she was no longer beholden to it, and she could use that gained time to run _towards_ the future she wanted.

Adam was dead, and it was not the conclusion she wished for, but it was the end that finally set her free.


End file.
